Netanyahu and staff entering self-quarantine as precaution after aide infected

As a precaution, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisers are voluntarily entering quarantine until Health Ministry officials finish their epidemiological investigation into whether he was exposed to the coronavirus, his office says.

“Even before the epidemiological investigation is over and to remove all doubt, the prime minister has decided that he and his close staff will remain in isolation until the epidemiological investigation is completed, and according to the findings, the Health Ministry and the personal physician of the prime minister will set a day to end the isolation,” his office says.

Netanyahu’s aide Rivka Paluch was confirmed infected with the virus on Sunday, but it remains unclear whether the prime minister was in close contact with her.

Rivka Paluch, left, walks alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset on March 3, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)